Tag: Monitor

A group that monitors the death toll in Iraq believes the number of civilian deaths in 2009 to be less than half the number for 2008. Yet the United Kingdom-based group said that terrorist violence “still afflicts Iraq’s population more than any other.”

Three months after Georgia and Russia briefly battled—a clash that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili blamed on Russian aggression—the original story about the short summer war is being reconsidered in light of new information from independent sources.

Looks like war isn’t hell for everyone, at least not for some employees of KBR, a company that contracts with the U.S. government. KBR, once a Halliburton subsidiary, allegedly put its workers in larger than warranted living spaces and served meals that cost more than necessary under a government contract, The Washington Post reported.

Jill Carroll, the 28-year-old Christian Science Monitor freelancer who was held captive in Iraq for almost three months earlier this year, has gone public for the first time with the story of her ordeal. She recalls beseeching one of her captors to use a gun to kill her—rather than a knife—when it seemed her execution was imminent.

Invasion of privacy is not just for the NSA anymore! Parents have always snooped, but as the SF Chronicle reveals, new tech toys are taking what was once standard parental prying to a whole new level of unacceptable surveillance and spying. Whatever happened to good, old-fashioned conversation? (Via boingboing.net)

The Department of Defense monitored e-mails from college students who were planning protests against the Iraq war and against the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The Pentagon apparently started digging after receiving tips through a website used for soliciting anti-terror tips from civilians and military personnel. (Link - reg req’d)

Two former AT&T workers have told Salon that the telecom company has maintained a secret, highly secured room in a St. Louis network operations center where, the two workers were told, employees have been “monitoring network traffic.” Salon’s security experts say the operation has all the hallmarks of an NSA operation.